Marcion

Marcion , c.85-c.160, early Christian bishop, founder of the Marcionites, one of the first great Christian heresies to rival Catholic Christianity. He was born in Sinope. He taught in Asia Minor, then went (c.135) to Rome, where he perfected his theory. In 144 he was excommunicated from the church. He then formed a church of his own, which became widespread and powerful. Marcion taught that there were two gods, proclaiming that the stern, lawgiving, creator God of the Old Testament, and the good, merciful God of the New Testament were different. He considered the creator god the inferior of the two. Marcion also rejected the real incarnation of Christ, claiming that he was a manifestation of the Father. Though generally seen as one of the most important leaders of the somewhat loosely defined movement known as Gnosticism, he did not share some of the main premises of other Gnostic sects. He believed in salvation by faith rather than by gnosis; he rejected the Gnostic emanation theory; and he sought truth in his own truncated version of the New Testament, which included only 10 of the so-called Pauline Epistles and an edited version of St. Luke. He completely rejected the Old Testament. He explained in his Antitheses that since Jewish law was often opposed to St. Paul, all passages in the Bible that suggested the Jewish foundation of Christianity should be suppressed, even including such statements by St. Paul (see antinomianism ). Marcionism emphasized asceticism and influenced the developments of Manichaeism , by which it was later absorbed. Its effect on orthodox Christianity was to cause a canonical New Testament to be assembled and promulgated and the fulfillment of the Old Law in the New Law to be clearly enounced.

Marcion (85–160 CE) Influential heretic who came to Rome in 140 CE and established schismatic congregations. He held that the God of the OT was a God of Law and wrath, and not to be identified with the NT concept of the God of Love, revealed by Jesus. Paul was, he said, the apostle who understood this, and accordingly ten of his epistles, suitably edited, formed the major part of Marcion's canonical scriptures. Of the gospels, he accepted only an abbreviated version of Luke. Such radicalism may have encouraged Marcion's ‘orthodox’ opponents to consider which Christian writings were authoritative for the life and faith of the Church.

Marcion (d. c.160), heretic. A native of Sinope in Pontus, he made his way to Rome c.140, and attached himself to the local Church; he was excommunicated in 144. He organized his followers in compact communities over a large part of the Empire. By the end of the 3rd cent. most of them had been absorbed in Manichaeism.

Marcion's central thesis was that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love to the exclusion of Law. He consequently rejected the OT, holding that the Creator God depicted therein had nothing in common with the God of Love revealed by Jesus. This contrast of law and grace, he held, was fully understood only by St Paul, the Twelve Apostles and the Evangelists being largely blinded to the truth by remnants of Jewish influence. Hence for Marcion the only Canonical Scriptures were ten of the Epistles of St Paul (he either rejected or did not know the Pastorals) and an edited form of St Luke's Gospel. His Christology was Docetic. See also the following entry.